World-famous gourmets, the French, adore sauce so much that they think
it is more important than the main course. In their restaurants
special forks for the remaining sauce are served, so that any bit
wouldn't be wasted. The same is true for barbecue sauce which has taken
on special significance. Barbecue sauce origin is unknown, its history
is connected whether with the 17th century and the first American
colonies, or with Europe, where it had been mentioned in French and
English literature. The tradition of famous South Carolina mustard
sauce dated from the 18th century, when it was occupied by German
settlers.
Like any internationally popular dish and the best flavoring to barbecue food,
barbecue sauce has many variations. Its common ingredients are vinegar,
spices, tomato paste and sweeteners; the rest vary from state to state,
depending on barbecue
techniques and recipe.
For example, in Australia barbecue sauce is a blend of Worcestershire
and tomato sauces, in Asian countries it stands for the sauce based on
corn syrup or just ketchup, and in the southern United States mustard
is its basic ingredient. Actually the USA is rich for various
interpretations of sauces for barbecue
galore.
Thus, in Alabama people eat barbequed meat with vinegar or mustard
based sauce flavored with smoked chili, St. Louis dwellers prefer sweet
and spicy sauce with tomatoes, Georgia features ketchup seasoned with
onion, brown sugar, black pepper and garlic, and in Texas pork ribs are eaten
only with hot tomato-based sauce with cumin.
Among different variations of barbecue sauce there are real
masterpieces of the art of cooking, as for example, Salsa Cubano. To
make this sauce you will need 1/2 cup of sour orange juice which can be
found in Hispanic grocery stores, or 1/3 cup of lime juice, 5 cloves of
chopped garlic, 1 md of chopped white onion, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2
tablespoon of cumin seeds, 1/2 tablespoon of oregano and 1/4 tablespoon
of salt. The juice, water, garlic and onions are placed in a blender,
set on “liquefy”. The dry ingredients are crushed,
added to
the mixture in the blender and processed for about a minute. Meat
should be marinated in this sauce for at least one hour, but the whole
night is better. While cooking barbecue, brush meat with the sauce to
make it juicier and more flavored.
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